As I face another end of month without a blog post (for some reason I feel the need for at least one post a month, perhaps to give the crickets something to chirp about) I realize I do have something to blog about – time management.
Here’s my time management theory: Much of life is divided into two groups, the stuff you need to do, and the stuff you want to do. The goal in life is to merge the two if at all possible. This can be by:
- Doing only what you want, which ceases to be practical once you turn seven (unless you’re a pathological narcissist, of course)
- Learning to love what you’re doing (which sounds vaguely masochistic).
- Change.
Now, there is a case for #2, learning to love what you have. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and all that. Builds character, and so on. However, I prefer change. Of course, sensible change is to follow your dream while still working at whatever pays the bills. And it also involves analysis about what you want to do. Often, it’s not a specific thing, but an aspect.
Take art. I imagine a lot of people would like to be artists. But “art” is broad. Some people may want the smocks, the gallery showings, and the hob-nobbing with the intelligentsia; others may want to design graphics for magazines and such, or create clothing, and so on. Zeroing in on the actual aspect helps, since you avoid doing the parts you don’t like, again saving time.
But there’s another aspect: If you work at what you enjoy, you’ll likely work better at it, which means faster; this in turn makes your time more valuable, freeing up more time to do more of what you want, resulting in a sort of virtuous cycle.
Of course, we’re talking work, right? Well, if you make good money in art, you can pay someone to clean your clothes. Many business people pay chauffeurs, giving them extra time to work in the car to/from work. And so on. With enough success, even the non-work items can be offloaded if you want.
Adjusting your life to include more of what you truly enjoy is vital to a happier, healthier life. So analyze what you really want to do, and take steps to do more of it. I believe that is time management at its best.
